Indonesia's Regional Languages Decline Among Youth, Data Shows

A concerning trend is emerging in Indonesia: the diminishing use of regional languages among the youth. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) for 2025 shows a stark contrast in language usage across different age groups. While a majority of Indonesians still communicate in regional dialects, the numbers reveal a clear pattern: the younger the generation, the less they use their ancestral tongues.

Nationally, 73.82 percent of Indonesians aged five and above use regional languages for communication within families and communities. However, this figure masks a significant generational divide. For those aged 75 and above, regional language use stands at a robust 86.56 percent. This usage steadily declines with each younger age bracket, dropping to 73.58 percent for those aged 25-29, and further to 69.50 percent for teenagers aged 15-19.

The most dramatic decrease is observed in children. Those aged 10-14 use regional languages only 66.22 percent of the time, while the youngest group, aged 5-9, registers at just 60.93 percent. This represents a gap of approximately 25.6 percentage points between the oldest and youngest demographics.

This data points to a clear intergenerational language shift. Regional languages remain deeply embedded in the lives of older Indonesians, but the ability and willingness to pass these languages down to the next generation appears to be weakening. The author, Hasanuddin Ali, CEO of Alvara Research Center, notes this phenomenon personally, observing parents using regional languages with peers but switching to Indonesian when speaking with their children. This shift is attributed to increasing urbanization, inter-regional marriages, higher population mobility, and the pervasive influence of Indonesian in education and digital environments.